Setts



no; 62l,634.

Patented Mar. 2|, I899. J. J. CUNNINGHAM & E. H. MULLEN.

B A L L O T.

(Applicatiozi filed Feb. 1, 1898.)

(No Model.)

FIB 4 WITNESSES- luv NTDRS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES J. CUNNINGHAM AND EUGENE H. MULLEN, OF LYNN, MASSACHU- SETTS,ASSIGNORS TO JOSIAH Q. BENNETT, TRUSTEE,'0F CAMBRIDGE,

MASSACHUSETTS; i

iBALLOT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 621,634, dated March1899. Application filed February 1, 1898. Serial No. 668,782. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it, may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMEs J. CUNNINGHAM and EU GENE H. MULLEN, citizensofthe United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and Stateof Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBallots; and .We do hereby declare the following tofbe a full, clear,and exact description of the inventiomsuch as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

In Letters Patent of the United States No. 595,669, issued to usDecember 21, 1897, we have illustrated anddescribed an improvedapparatus for registering votes requiring for its operation what We havetermed in said patent a perforated stencil-ballot, which controls theoperation of the markers on the movable tally-sheets forming part ofsaid apparatus and which is made by the voter at the voting-booth fromthe official ballot by punching a hole in said ballot opposite the nameof each candidate for whom he desires to cast a vote. It will be notedfrom the description of said apparatus given in said patent that tosecure its successful operation the perforations intended to indicate avote for each candidate must be in substantially the same location uponthe several ballots cast for such candidate, so that the marking devicecan strike through such perforations onto the movable tally-sheet andmake its registering marks in a line or column thereon in position to bereadily and accurately counted. To secure the above-suggested result, asdescribed in said patent, the official ballot is adjusted in a case orcarrier and given to the voter, who takes it to the voting-booth andwith the assistance of a special apparatus provided in said booth, asfully described in said patent, makes the perforations required toindicate his vote for the candidates he selects, and the ballot soperforated, with its carrier, is then placed in the machine, which isoperated to register the vote.

The object of the present invention is to simplify the above-describedoperation and to do away with the special apparatus required to form thestencil-ballot from the ballot which is provided at the polling-place.

To the above end the present invention consists of an improved ballotcomprising a main sheet or body portion and a perforated gagestrip,through theperforations in which the main sheet or body portion of theballot is exposed.

The present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure l is a plan view of a ballot embodying the same. Fig. 2 isan enlarged partial longitudinal section through the main sheet or bodyportion of the ballot and gage-strip, showing the same before the ballotis perforated to form the stencil-ballot. Fig. 3 is a partialcross-section, enlarged, showing the ballot after it has beenperforated; and Fig. 4 is an endview of the ballot.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the several views.

Referring to-the drawings, A- represents the main sheet or body portionof the ballot, upon which the names of the several candidates areprinted in columns in the usual manneras, for example, in the. blocks orspaces a. To the main sheet or body portion A is secured a gage-strip B,which extends longitudinally of the ballot along the column of namesthere on. In the guide-strip B are formed a series of perforations 6,arranged one opposite the name of each candidate, through whichperforations the main sheet or body portion A is exposed. The gage-stripmay conveniently consist of a strip of cardboard, thick paper, or othersuitable material, which may be conveniently pasted or glued to the mainsheet or body portion of the ballot. The perforation for each candidatesname is in the same position on the gage-strip forming part of eachballot, and when the gage-strip is secured to the main sheet or bodyportion such perforations are brought to corresponding locationsthereon. If more than one column of names is printed upon the main sheetor body portion A, a plurality of the gage-strips B is provided, one foreach column of names.

In using our improved ballot the same is given to the voter at thepolling-place in the usual manner, and he takes it to a booth and with alead-pencil, blunt-pointed stick, or any convenient tool or implementthat can be 100 passed through the perforations in the gagestrippunctures the main sheet or body portion A through such perforations inthe gage strip B as are located opposite the names of the candidates forWhom he desires to vote. The ballot thus punctured forms a perforatedstencil-ballot ready to be inserted in the voteregistering apparatus,the punctures forming perforations which by means of the gage-strips Bhave been made in the proper relative position to secure the successfuland accurate operation of said apparatus.

Having thus described our invention and manner of using the same, Weclaim as novel

